Interestingly, gardens (as we call 'em in the UK; if it’s called a yard it’s probably paved) are regularly cited as one of the things helping keep bees and other small critters alive. Gardening for wildlife has been huge here since the 70s, to the extent that beekeepers in the cities actually have lower annual colony losses than rural beekeepers, as flowers are more available in the cities.
People here often do have a lawn, but rarely just a lawn, there’ll at least be some edges with shrubs and flowers in, or maybe the whole thing’ll be planted up with just a few paths through.
Plus if you can’t be bothered, and just let it develop gradually into woodland, you’re not going to get anyone making you cut it back, at least unless you have scrub that’s actually extending into the street or you have spreading seriously obnoxious invasives like Japanese knotweed. Neighbours may tut, but if it’s staying on your land, it’s basically your business.
Instead of a yard, I’m gonna get more specific, and say lawns, and the concept that that’s what a yard should be.
Picture the scene- open skies, prairie grass gently moving in the breeze as far as the eyes can see. The pioneer girl, on her way back from the creek filling the bucket with water for the day’s washing, spots a dot in the distance.
The dot gradually grows, to reveal a covered wagon, the first the family’s seen in a month. She runs barefoot back to the cabin, shouting for her family to come see.
The horses drag the wagon up the barely visible trail, and the strange newcomer, wrapped up against the dust steps down from the wagon, approaches the family and speaks the first words the family have heard from the outside world since March; ‘That trash can’s visible from the path, you’d going to have to move it round the back or pay a HOA fine’.
We do have what you call a lawn. We have several rock gardens and trees. But it’s still a lot of grass to cut. We don’t bother fertilizing and we rarely water. Like I said I’d like to let part of it go but I think that might end up being just as much work. I imagine an area of native wildflowers and grasses gently waving in the breeze but in reality, it would be a lot of crummy weeds and invasive brush.
Can’t you build a decorative little enclosure that hides the garbage can?
A white-picket-fence kind of thing, with some curly metal decorations, to support some greenery,such as climbing vines growing along the sides.
Or just plant a big bush and keep the can behind it.
As for unnecessary household devices: electric doorbells in one-story houses. Just knock!
“His and Her” sinks especially in houses with multiple bathrooms.
My house has two sinks in the bathroom attached to the main bedroom, two sinks in the upstairs bathroom, and two sinks in the downstairs bathroom. Never once in my entire life have I ever decided to brush my teeth at the same time as someone else in the same room
Agree (but watching HGTV, it seems to remain a huge deal to many people)
When we re-did our master bath four years ago, we went from two sinks to one, because we had other things we wanted to do with that space. I’d say twice a year my wife is brushing her teeth when I need to get to the sink for some reason. When that happens, I am able to wait 60 seconds and the problem is resolved.
I am always amazed when watching one of those HGTV shows and the deal-breaker for choosing a house is no double sink in the master bathroom. First of all, I’ve never lived in a house with a master bathroom. We’ve always had more than one bathroom, but they’re just bathrooms. And I too have NEVER, in the almost 37 years of marriage, needed to use a bathroom sink at the same time as my husband.
Does anyone else’s significant other spend more than 60 seconds doing things like washing face, putting on contacts, putting on makeup, working on hair? Do not all these things occur in the morning around the same time that you also need to do these things?
We have a tiny bathroom with one sink and I am frequently waiting to do my bathroom stuff.
ETA: Not to mention arguing over items taking up counter space!
Just speaking for myself, I don’t hate the double sinks (in fact, we have one in the guest bathroom) I just don’t think it’s a necessity. Maybe because my wife and I are often on different schedules.
What I dislike more than the double vanity sinks are the “vessel sinks” that are trendy now. These are the ones that sit on top of the countertop, rather than having the rim at countertop level and the bowl below it.
yep! This is the stupidest idea in human history.
Who suggested this to his sales department?
“hey, Let’s go back to a hundred years ago, when nobody had indoor plumbing, so they filled a basin with water and set it on top of a counter. But we’ll market it as a new fashion, and people will fall for it! The more inconvenient the better!!”
HUH?
If you splash water or drip toothpaste or whatever onto the countertop, you can’t just wipe it into the sink, quick rinse, and get on with your life.
Yep. My Wife and I have an in suit master bath. One sink, one shower, one toilet. We have never needed to both be in there at the same time. And IF it came to something, um, urgent, we have another bathroom downstairs.
I love having two sinks in our bathroom its always a nightmare when we live in houses with just a single sink. Hell, just sharing a shower costs me 15 minutes some mornings in my perfect house we’d have his and her bathrooms off of the master. The vessel sinks are terrible though.
We have two shower heads in our shower, and do actually use that feature now and then. Interesting side note, even when showering separately we each use “our” side.
